From the Publisher:In this rich and compelling novel, written in language of astonishing poise and resonance, one of Australia's greatest living writers gives an immensely powerful vision of human differences and eternal divisions.|In the mid-1840s a thirteen-year-old British cabin boy, Germmy Fairley, is cast ashore in the far north of Australia and taken in by aborigines. Sixteen years later he moves back into the world of Europeans, among hopeful yet terrified settlers who are staking out their small patch of home in an alien place. To them, Gemmy stands as a different kind of challenge: he is a force that at once fascinates and repels. His own identity in this new world is as unsettling to him as the knowledge he brings to others of the savage, the aboriginal.In the mid-1840s, a 13-year-old British cabin boy is cast ashore in the far north of Australia and taken in by aborigines. Sixteen years later, he moves back into the world of Europeans. "Wonderfully wise and moving . . . a dazzling fable of human hope and imperfection".--The New York Times.During the mid-1840s, thirteen-year-old British cabin boy Gemmy Fairley is cast ashore in northern Australia and adopted by Australian aborigines. Reprint. 20,000 first printing. Tour.Thirteen-year-old Gemmy Fairley is cast ashore in northern Australia and adopted by Australian aborigines during the mid-1840s

Annotation:A runner-up for the Booker Prize, this novel is about a 13-year-old British cabin boy named Gemmy who is set ashore in Australia and taken in by aborigines. Sixteen years later, he runs across European settlers, who find him both fascinating and repellent. "Remembering Babylon" concerns Gemmy's own sense of self, his knowledge of the aborigines, and how both he and they are perceived by the Europeans.

Author Bio

David Malouf

Born and reared in Australia, Malouf moved to Italy and has written both about Europe and Australia. His work is known primarily for lush descriptions of nature and a blending of time periods within a narrative. He has taught at various Australian universities, and has won numerous awards for his fiction.

Praise

New York Times"Wonderfully wise and moving...a dazzling fable of human hope and imperfection."